Argumentative Paper on Why Texting/Cell Phone Use While Driving Should Be Illegal

For quite a long time now, drunk driving has been one the leading causes of road accidents in most countries. This compelled many governments to pass regulations that put in place the level of blood-alcohol allowed for one to be behind the wheel. For instance, in the U.S, the legal limit for blood-alcohol content while driving is 0.08%. Similarly, tough measures (illegalization) must now be considered in regard to texting/cell phone use while driving.

According to distraction.gov, the official U.S government website for distracted driving, the year 2010 registered a total of 3,000 deaths as a result of crashes due to distracted driving. Texting/cell phone use has emerged to be the greatest cause of road fatalities. The entrance of iPhones, Blackberry and other text-friendly phones (“qwerty” keypads) has led to hundreds of billions of texts to be sent in a single year. Consequently, this has become a major cause of distraction on drivers who are texting while driving. In fact, texting while driving is twice dangerous compared to talking on a phone while driving. Multi-tasking can be very dangerous while behind the wheel since the two events are equally demanding.

On the other hand, the psychologists of Utah University have equated talking on hands-free or handheld cellular to drunk driving. This is because drivers driving while talking on a cellular phone are equally impaired as drivers who are driving under the legal limit of blood-alcohol level of 0.08%. The psychologists point out that the conversation itself without manipulating the mobile handset is equally very distracting from the road conditions. This shows that the very risks that a driver is exposed to while drunk-driving are the very ones exposed to one driving while talking on the phone.

As a result of these risks posed by the use of cell phones or texting while driving, the only way out to ensure road safety is to ban their use in entirety for anyone behind the wheel. Unlike drunk-driving where a limit can be set, there is no limit that can be applied to cell phone use.